Tour de France: Doping question angers leader

PORRENTRUY, Switzerland - Bradley Wiggins kept the yellow jersey at the Tour de France. Keeping his cool was another matter.

PORRENTRUY, Switzerland - Bradley Wiggins kept the yellow jersey at the Tour de France. Keeping his cool was another matter.

Wiggins, a former Olympic champion, with ambitions to become Britain's first Tour winner, unleashed a profanity-laced tirade after yesterday's eighth stage in which the race entered Switzerland.

Thibaut Pinot, at 22 the youngest competitor, was the day's winner and gave France its first stage victory this year. Wiggins quashed a late attack by defending champion Cadel Evans to hold the lead.

Wiggins' Team Sky has controlled the Tour in a style reminiscent of Lance Armstrong's former U.S. Postal team. Wiggins, however, lost his composure when asked by a reporter to comment on comparisons between the teams and "cynics who believe that you have to be doped up to win the Tour."

Wiggins, angered by the chatter on social media, let loose with an expletive-filled outburst.

"I cannot be dealing with people like that. It justifies their own bone-idleness because they can't ever imagine applying themselves to anything in their lives," he said. "And it's easy for them to sit under a pseudonym on Twitter and write that."

Wiggins is looking to move from three-time Olympic track gold medalist to a rising star of the Tour de France roads. His fourth-place Tour finish in 2009 put to rest many questions about his climbing skill.

Speaking to French television, Wiggins said his ability to get up hard mountain climbs came from training, diet and lifestyle. "I drink nothing now … before, in 2004, I was almost an alcoholic after the Olympics."

Yesterday's ride into the Jura range next to the Swiss Alps, known as the birthplace of the Swiss army knife, offered double drama: a hard last climb that splintered the pack, and a tense chase of Pinot to the finish.

Pinot burst from the pack and overtook a breakaway rider during a steep, final climb to win the 98-mile stage from Belfort in eastern France to the Swiss town of Porrentruy.

"I will remember this day my entire life," Pinot said as teammates embraced him. "I can't yet get my mind around it."

Evans of Australia was second, 26 seconds behind, but didn't gain any time on Wiggins, who was fourth in a small group that included most of the remaining prerace favorites.

The stage was marred by yet another crash, bringing a high-profile withdrawal. Defending Olympic champion Samuel Sanchez pulled out 35 miles into the stage. He suffered a broken right hand and injured his left shoulder, and could miss the London Games. Twenty riders have dropped out from the 99th Tour.